“It’s extremely worrisome,” said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, noting that Obama campaign supporters likely have no idea that personal data they voluntarily shared with the campaign has now been transferred and is being used for purposes beyond the election. – Obama campaign gives database of millions of supporters to new advocacy group

President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has turned over its most valuable asset ““ a massive computer database containing personal data on millions of American voters ““ to a new advocacy group created to advance the White House agenda on issues ranging from gun control to immigration reform.

Organizing For Action (OFA), the advocacy group set up in recent weeks by the president’s top political aides, has already acquired access to the database under a leasing agreement with the Obama campaign, Katie Hogan, a former Obama campaign aide who is now serving as spokeswoman for the lobbying group, told NBC News. The information will be used to unleash an “army of the door knockers” to back the president’s legislative agenda as well as raise money for “issue ads” “” particularly in crucial congressional districts, she said.

In an interview recently, highlighted on Chuck Todd’s “The Daily Rundown” today, Stephanie Cutler made the point that the new OFA is constructed legally so that they cannot directly participate in elections.

If you’re smelling Karl Rove’s hand you’d be right, though it’s a bit more fragrant coming from the Democratic side, because at least there’s a pretense of being willing to disclose donors quarterly. We shall see if this happens.